Segrey Shrouds Hughes Lilt 7 212 Wielder o Power Melodramatic End By Morton Mints and George Lardner Jr. By Laurence Stern Washitig011 SRO Staff Wrhora Washington Post Staff Writer Howard R. Hughes, one of the strangest HOUSTON, April 0—Even in death, of America's great economic barons, Howard IL Hughes clung to the mantle arnassedra fortune estimated at more than of secrecy that marked him as America's V2 billion, and with that fortune exer- pre-eminent rich recluse. cised a power that spread far beyond his 'His body, wasted by illness and shroud- vast financial holdings and reached deep ed- by a yellow hospital blanket, was into the nation's political, defense and in- wheeled out of the morgue of Methodist telligence communities. Hospital here shortly after 5 p.m. and That financial power enabled him to quickly transferred to a waiting hearse under police guard. evade subpoenas, ignore lawsuits, com- His face was hidden, as it has been for mand audiences with presidential advis- the past 20 years, from the photographers ers, buy out competitors and most often and reporters who pursued the stretcher get his way. down a hospital corridor. • The cause of death was "chronic renal Less than two months ago, in what ap- disease"—kidney failure—Methodist Hos- pears to have been his final victory, the pital President Ted 'Bowen announced. Internal Revenue Service issued a long- The circumstances of Hughes' death delayed set of regulations that made the were- as steeped in melodrama as had Howard Hughes Medical Institute a 'pub- been most of his tumultuous life. He died lic charity!' in flight aboard a private Lear jet rush- The ruling, little-noticed at the time, ing him from the Mekican resort Aca- allows the 'institute to retain all of its pulco to this thriving oil capital where stock. As a private foundation rather then Hughes was born 70 years ago and made a "public charity," it would have been re- his early fortune. quired to divest 20 per cent to 50 per cent He will be buried in a family plot here of its holdings, depending on when where the remains of his parents lie Hughes' will was dated. following a private funeral service at a Hughes, who died Monday during a time which, characteristically, is being flight from Acapulco to a IIlyaston hospi- kept secret. tal, is believed to have left the bulk of his His body arrived in Houston at 2:05 p.m. fortune to the Hughes Institute. Monday, about a half hour after he was Officials of Hughes' empire were unable pronounced dead in the air. It was accom- to state definitely yesterday whether the panied by two physicians, an aide and two See POWER., A7, Cal. 5 See HUGHES, AG, Col. 1 HUGHES, From Al The news media from ury Department said the by Dr. Henry D. Macintosh, which. Hughes had sealed fingerprinting was ordered chairman of the Department pilots, It was the cadaver of himself off for the past 20 'because of the substantial "an old, emaciated man," years began 'converging at estate tax that would be ex- of Internal Medicine a n d said 'Marie Denton, Customs the door in the basement pected" following Hughes' attending physician of rec- Bureau inspector at Houston marked: death. The state of Nevada, ord. This will permit the Intercontinental Airport. "Pathology — Authorized where Hughes has large conclusion of the fingerprint There was one piece. of property holdings, also re- identifying documentation, Staff Only." identification as well as the Staff aides of the de- quested fingerprints. a birth certificate naming The Treasury spokesman rest of the autopsy findings. him Howard Robard Hughes ceased billionaire insisted that the net of privacy be added that two Internal Rev- "In this case verification Jr. enue Service agents were is extremely important," At Methodist Hospital, drawn as tightly as possible. guarding the body. "We do winch is part of Houston's The hospital's management said the medical examiner. not have official custody of "It is a question of how you renowned medical complex, was caught between the de- the body but we are going Hughes was being awaited mands for secrecy and the to stick with it" until its can be sure when no one as a patient under the alias growing clamor for informa- identity has been confirmed, has seen him in 2.0 or so J. T. Conover. A recovery tion from the press. he said. years." room had been prepared for "I've been expending The fingerprinting of the Deputy medical examiner his treatment next to the more energy on one dead body was conducted by the Ethel Erickson said the body operating room in which man than on 1,500 live ones Harris County, Tex., chief of Hughes was "shriveled celebrated Houston heart in here," said one hospital medical examiner, Dr. Jo- and dehydrated" because of surgeon Dr. Michael De- official. "He, may be a multi- Seph Jachimczyk, who also his refusal, despite the urg- Bakes, normally. operates. billion-dollar man but this is observed the autopsy. The ing of his doctors, to drink A high bustle of activity getting ridiculous. We were prints were forwarded to water. had begun at mid-morning expecting a patient, not a the FBI. Hughes' doctors decided to Monday for the arrival of corpse." , Hughes was identified by rush him to Houston on the mysterious VIP patied An autopsy was begun at his two private physicians, Monday, she was told, be- Special nurses were brought 1:30 p.m. today and ended Drs. Wilbur S. Than) of Lo- cause of his rapidly deteri- in and plainclothes security at 3 p.m. It was conducted gan, Utah, and Lawrence orating condition. He had men prowled the halls. by Dr. Jack Titus, chief 'pa- Chaffin of Los Angeles, as lapsed into a semi-comatose But by 3:30 p.m. the flurry thologist of Methodist Hos- well as an aide, John IV!. condition for periods of ended. The word was put pital, at the request of an Holmes Jr., all of whom ac- time just prior to his death. out that "he Isn't coming." elderly aunt of Hughes, Mrs. companied the body to Macintosh explained In a Instead, the *body of F. R. LunirLs, his next of Houston. press conference that the Hughes was in the hospital's kin. It may. nevertheless, be long-standing kidney failure basement morgue awaiting „Beside the autopsy, other three or four days before a made it impossible 'for adjudication 'between the steps are being taken to as- death certificate is issued Hughes to eliminate Waste coroner's office, the hospital sure that the body which products. and Hughee few surviving now rests at the George "Unless something is done kin of 'its disposition. Lewis & Sons Funeral Home At about 5 p.m. the word about this the patient will 'here ls that of Hughes. Support Seen die and this is what I think went out to the public. that Treasury Secretary Wil- the remains of Hughes were happened," he said. "Ulti- liam E. Simon -ordered that For Decontrol mately there comes a time in the morgue of Methodist the corpse be fingerprinted. Hospital. when 'nothing can be done." A spokesmati for the Treas- Of Residual Oil' Macintosh said he could A neocl latti Tres' not give a reason why the Hughes party chose. Metho- dist Hospital for the final' rate to save the patient's life. "From what we have seen in- the press we have read that Mr. Hughes likes to live in secrecy," Macintosh said. "-"I have no fault with the way he lived his life." The appearance of Hughes, he said, was "that of a man who had lived a full life." There was no evidence of foul play of any kind, said Jachimczyk. "He looked like an old human being," the pathologist said. In' Beverly Hills, Calif., Jean Peters, who was mar- ried to Hughes from 1957. until their divorce in 1971, said "I'm sorry; I'm sad. deed." Peters was Hughes' second wife. His first mar- riage, to Houston socialite Ella Rice, ended in divorce when he was 23. Hughes had no children. POWER, From Al The Maheu testimony that dent Johnson offered per- dum submitted to a Heee° generated the greatest con- sonally to explain the need Banking subcommittee in billionaire even Ieft a will. troversy involved $100,000 for the test and later Presi- 1973 by Hogan & Hartson, "I'm 90 per cent sure there's in currency that, Maheu dent Nixon offered to send the institute's law firm, the a will," said Hughes spokes- said, was "earmarked" by send Henry Kissinger out to institute's bylaws, adopted man Arelo Sederberg. Hughes for Richard Nixon Las Vegas to brief the bil- by Hughes as the sole That the provisions and In 1989 and 1970. lionaire. trustee, provide "that in the even the existence of a will Nixon had tapped his Hughes refused both of- absence of a trustee, the ex- seemed uncertain was not friend Charles G. (Bebe) fers. The adamant billionaire ecutive committee shall also surprising, for Hughes' em- Rebozo to receive the cash never did win his campaign have and may exercise the pire operated In secrecy, in two eqdal installments, to end all testing at 'he Las powers of the trustee." concealed in a maze of sur- Maheu said. Vegas site, but the AEC did The institute, which was prise movements and popu- Maheu linked the first formed in 1954, is the sole lar myths. shift one big megaton-plus $50,000 payment to an ef- owner of the Hughes Air- The efforts of Howard blast to Alaska. fort by Hughes to stop the craft Co., whose stock in Hughes to translate his Justice Department from Hughes, as government money into political power blocking, on anti trust contractor, both overt and 1972 reportedly had a net have been chronicled by two covert, was also awesome. book value of $154 million. grounds, Hughes' acquisition The institute may also former trusted aides, Noah of the Dunes casino-hotel on According to a recent series Dietrich, in his book "How- by The Philadelphia In- have other holdings, accord- the Las Vegas Strip. The ing to Noah Dietrich, a ard: The Amazing Mr. acquisition fell through. : quirier, his companies have Hughes," and Robert A. received more than $6 bil- former Hughes associate. Malley, in sworn testimony The accounts Nixon and lion In federal contracts Dietrich said yesterday in a lawsuit. Rebozo gave of the $100,000, since 1965, collecting an av- that under a will he saw while laced with inconsisten- "He cared nothing abort erage of $1.7 million a day years ago, Hughes planned cies and contradictions of from the U.S. Treasury. to leave his entire estate to candidates or issues—unless sworn testimony by Maheu they had some effect on His privately held Summa the institute. At the time, and another Hughes aide, Dietrich added, Hughes Howard Hughes," Dietrich never resulted in the filing Corp., which was exempt wrote. of any formal charges. Essen- from the reports to the Se- made no specific provision "And if they did he fig- tially, their claim was that curities and Exchange Com- for a successor trustee. If ured he could buy his way Rebozo had gotten the cash mission requires of publicly this were still the case, the to favor. 'Everybody always owned companies, evidently three-man executive com- and banked it for the 1972 struck the CIA as ideal has a price,'" he always presidential campaign. mittee would get control of when it was casting about the institute. said. "And he was going to Maheu swore that in the offer that price—to a city for a partner in a venture Dietrich said he also learn- 11/613 campaign, Hughe's con- to raise a sunken Soviet councilman or the Presi- tributions to Democratic as ed In recent years that dent of the United States." submarine, Hughes' Summa Corp. was well as Republican candidates. The result was the cele- Dietrich estimated that in up to the presidential level in- in effect "a subsidiary" of the late 1940s and through- brated $300 million Glomar the institute. cluded $50,000 in currency Explorer, a ship purported out the 1950s, Hughes gave allegedly given to then Vice Sederberg, the spokesman between $100,000 and $400,- to be a deep-sea mining re- for Hughes, said Summa President Hubert H. Hum- search vessel but which ac- 000 a year in political con- phrey in his limousine after operates t is e billionaire's tributions through Los An- tually was used in 1974 in glittering Nevada hotels and a campaign speech in Los an attempt to raise a Rus- geles lawyer Frank J. Angeles. Humphrey, who was sian sub from the floor of casinos, a television station Waters. then running for President, the Pacific. in Las Vegas, Hughes Heli- The law forbade corporate has denied that any such copter a n d Hughes A l r transaction occurred. The extent of Hughes' West, among other interests. contributions. But Hughes' dealings with the CIA may lawyers had painted out to Hughes' quest for control never be known, but former He acknowledged t ha t him that there had been no took him to Nevada, a state Nixon White House aide Hughes' stock in Summa court test of contributions a man with his fortune and Charles W. Colson once con- may "already reside in the by a foreign corporation. political connections could fided to a private investiga- institute," but he said he Maheu, testifying In a suc- easily dominate. tor: did not know if this were cessful defamation suit Once he was settled In The Hughes Tool Co., the the case. against Summa Corp., dealt Nevada, where he arrived Hughes' interests, Summa According to the Associat- with the 1960s, as in this secretly In 1966 aboard a pri- Corp., Is the biggest single ed Press, an IRS spokesman sworn statement about a vate train, Hughes took up a contractor of the CIA. They said yesterday that the meeting he had in 1967 with crusade to end underground do a lot of their contract-out Hughes fortune, will escape Raymond M. Holiday, then nuclear tests at the Atomic federal estate taxes if it is chief executive of Hughes work like satellites (and) Energy Commission site this new Glomar Express left to medical research. Tool Co.: near Las Vegas, in typical (sic) . • ." Hughesian fashion. Otherwise, the Ills of- "I showed Mr. Holliday a This vast political and fi- ficial said, federal estate handwritten memorandum In a memo to an aide, the nancial power accumulated taxes could run as high as from Mr. Hughes where Mr. billionaire vented his anger by Hughes now may be 77 per cent, meaning a po- Hughes was asking me to at news reports of an up- given to three top Hughes coming detonation and de- tential assessment of $1.1 make a million-dollar payoff aides who constitute the billion to $1.5 billion. The to a President of the United clared that "1 am going executive committee of the direct to the President in a maximum '77 per cent ap- Slates. Mr. Holliday fainted, Hughes Medical institute. plies to all portions of tax- dropped the yellow sheet personal appeal and demand The three are Frank W. Gay of paper on the that the entire test program able estates above the $10 floor and re- of Los Angeles, Raymond million level. quested of me whether or be moved north." M. Holliday of Houston, and not his fingerprints could Hughes' campaign against Chester C. Davis of New Also contributing to this be taken off the piece of the test caused such concern York. article was Staff Writer paper." in Washington that Presi- According to a memoran- Peter Wins.